Keywords: Nature, sports, multicultural, one city-two countries, photography, music/band, billiards, board games, table tennis, camps, voluntary work, handicraft, skatehall.
Facebook/homepage: https://www.facebook.com/ValgaANK/ / http://valgaank.ee/
Valga Open Youth Centre is an institution, which was established in 2002, but as an individual institution from February 2017. It is located in the South of Estonia, a city called Valga. Valga is a border city and it’s neighbour city is Valka from Latvian side. We have city celebrations which are organized by two cities together.
Valga Open Youth Center has 1 manager and 4 youth workers, all with different backgrounds and years’ worth of experience working with the youth. We have support from NGO Tankla and Valga, which support youth workers and we are working together with other youth organisations. From the beginning of 2018, Valga Open Youth Centre has four smaller youth centres all over Valga area: Karula Open Youth Centre, Taheva Open Youth Centre, Õru Open Youth Centre and Tõlliste Open Youth Centre.
Valga area youth workers are all young as well, one of the main reasons why all the youth workers click with youngsters that well. We are all different, but we all have the same aim and work ethics.
Our aim is to develop and support through different activities different kinds of young people with different kinds of backgrounds. We work with youngsters aged 7-26, but that doesn’t mean that, if someone comes and is a little bit younger or older, can’t take part in events that we organize. We have events, which are really popular among young people like tournaments, different hikes and competitions, Summer school (camp), two week voluntary labour and free time camp (actually it is tons of fun and not only for working) and events that assume voluntary work in Valga City and county.
Our youngsters are really creative and most of opportunities, which are at this stage in our youth centre are written by our youngsters. Self-realization is popular, because they can have many experiences and they can use experiences in the future. We have photostudio and bandroom, a studio room and a gym. We rent out sport equipment and one of our youth worker is organizing every now and then an airsoft battle. A lot of ways to spend spare time.
Valga linn
Valga-Valka is the most southern town in Estonia and despite its small size, the town straddles two countries: Estonia and Latvia, boasting two languages and cultures. Valga-Valka also has a rich history and a versatile cultural scene. Valga city has a lots of things to see and has many ways to spend spare time. For lovers we have sportshall with different classes,
extreme sports hall, bowling centre and gym with 400m stadium. We have a lot of light traffic roads around Pedeli river and a 10 km long road towards Tartu. We have possibilities to visit the cinema and culture centre, museum and military museum.
We have a Voorimehe pub and for pop music lover Club Yes, both are open at the weekends and many cafes to buy pastries and drink coffee with friends. For rock music lovers there is a place called Valga Rockclub. We have many small and cheap shops. Best place to shop is in Tartu and it is 80 km from Valga. There is a regular bus transportation to Tallinn, Viljandi, Tartu, Pärnu (4 times per day) and we have train transportation to Tartu, Tallinn and Riga. From July 2018 Valga County and 10 other counties in Estonia provide free public transportation on all county based lines.
Keywords: sports facilities, photography, mechanics, robotics, musical instruments
Facebook/homepage: https://www.facebook.com/TorvaNoortekas
Tõrva Youth Center is located in Tõrva, but it also has smaller youth rooms in Linna küla, Riidaja and Hummuli. In Tõrva Youth Center there are usually 30-100 visitors per day and 3 employees. Our youth center is located in a former school house and therefore has a lot of room and different opportunities. We have a sports room, xbox room, musical instruments, billiards and table tennis and so on. In our territory there is an opportunity to play basketball, football or to skate. We are also starting with a robotics and mechanics course for youngsters and if the volunteer is interested in robots, engines or racing, he/she can participate in these activities as well.
Tõrva linn
Tõrva is a town in Tõrva Parish, in Valga County, southern Estonia. Tõrva has an area of 4.80 km2 (2 sq mi) and a population of ~2900, making it the second largest of the three towns in Valga County.
Tõrva region is a beautiful place full of nature and many possibilities to spend your free time outdoors. For sport-enthusiasts we have zumba and yoga classes, a gym, volleyball and folk dance classes. For photography lovers, we have studio equipment to use, a lot of beautiful scenery and photography classes as well. We have an active arts studio and a music school where you can learn to play any instrument or to sing. We have two pubs and two cafes to buy pastries and drink coffee with friends. We have small shops, several supermarkets, a small cinema, open once a week, and a field to play disc golf .
The closest city is Tartu (70 km from Tõrva), which is also the second biggest city in Estonia. It is called the University city and there you can find theaters, cinema, pubs, several malls and a lot of cool cafés. There is regular bus transportation to Tallinn, Viljandi, Tartu, Pärnu (2 times per day) and to Valga (more than 10 times per day).
Keywords: rural area, partnership with community, indoor-activities, beautiful nature, cooking together, active community
Facebook/homepage: https://www.facebook.com/KarulaANK/
Karula Youth Centre is located in a bright green building between meadows and forests in a small lovely village - Lüllemäe in Valga parish. We share the building with the local library and store.
In the youth centre youngsters can spend time playing pool, ping-pong, novuss and have little competitions. For more relaxing activities board- and cardgames are an option. For our youngsters baking and cooking is a very big part of the youth centre’s soul and regular cooking classes don't even come close to filling that need – so be prepared to innovate in the kitchen!
The layout of Karula Youth Centre encourages everyone spending time together and it’s common to have several activities and conversations happening all on top of each other in the main room. For more contained excitement they can move to a spacious kitchen or to one of two smaller siderooms – blue one with computers and yellow one that’s mainly for simply lounging and listening to music.
Besides our planned events (tournaments, boardgame evenings, cooking class and adventure club, to name a few), many of our events come in the form of pop-up happenings – when youngsters congregate and have the will to do something, it’s all about adapting quickly.
Since Karula region has a very tight-knit community, the youth centre also works together with the library, local school and culture hall - partnering up for community-wide events, organising extracurricular activities, lending a helping hand where needed and generally keeping an eye out for the good of our youngsters.
Lüllemäe küla
Lüllemäe village is located in the middle of Karula upland, being surrounded by its peaks and slopes, creating a beautiful scenery with the addition of Karula national park’s forests and lakes. The village has a population of 214 people. Lüllemäe has a school (1 st- 9 th grade), kindergarten, culture hall, library, youth centre, a cozy little café, a sports centre and several non-profit organisations.
Local community takes full advantage of the beautiful location and its active people – sporting and cultural events are held all year round. For example - If interested in winter-time sports, then Lüllemäe is a perfect location with the sports centre renting skis and maintaining the ski-trails. For that warm feeling of a community coming together - many of the national and traditional holidays are celebrated with region-wide events and open to everyone.
Keywords: rural area, event organizer, workshop leader, activities related with nature, creativity
Facebook/homepage: https://www.facebook.com/Taheva-valla-noored-302165056512667/
Taheva Youth Centre is an institution which was established in 2003. Starting in 2018 it is a part of Valga Open Youth Centre. The youth centre is located in a little village, which is called Hargla (population ~200) and mainly works with around 40 youngsters living in Taheva area. The target group are youngsters between 7-26 years. Most of the visitors are between 7-15 years. Main activities are organizing with youngsters: events, their free time, clubs, workshops and other „crazy“ ideas to develop local youth work and community. We are famous in our area for our fishing and big community events.
Per month there are ~300-400 visits. Also the youth centre is leading and organizing Taheva area clubs for youngsters (2019/2020 season clubs: folk band, fishing, crafting, sport, parkour, robotics, music, horse riding, cooking, entrepreneurship).
The youth centre itself is an old, but charming building next to the main road in Hargla.
It has a big room - even with a stage, where concerts and events (like the ones planned by youngsters) take place. But in Taheva Youth Center you can not only train your stage presence, also your dance and driving skills, as we have a PS4 room, where the youngsters love to play JustDance or WRC. Of course not only PS4 is played in the Youth Center, there is also a board-game-room, the possibility to play table football, billiard and also table tennis. We regularly organize board game- and table tennis-evenings, where the volunteer can join and try to win against the youngsters. Additionally to the possibility to do some sport and play games, the Youth Center also has professional DJ equipment, which can be used during events (like disco), and a brand new drum set and ukulele.
The Youth Center also has a new kitchen where some of the clubs take place.
Also on the outside the Youth Center has some cool things to offer, for example an outside training opportunity. For the youngsters there is a small playground with the famous Estonian swing. But not only these, also on the territory of the Youth Center are volleyball fields and a dancing-place. Youngsters have the opportunity to borrow bicycles.
Hargla
Hargla is a village located in South-Estonia near the Latvian border. This village is the biggest village in Taheva area. Starting in 2018 Taheva area and Hargla village is now part of Valga parish. The parish centre is Valga city, which is ~30km away from Hargla.
Hargla is famous for its very beautiful nature, as also Karula national park is nearby – keywords are pure, eco and wild. Around the area are a lot of hiking tracks, free camping places in nature, lakes and forest. Near Hargla is also a viewing point, where you can get a great impression of the area. One popular activity is canoeing in Mustjõgi and Koiva river – especially in the „5th“ season of Estonia, which means that the water of the river floods the nearby land. But also volleyball is common and popular in this area, as the youth centre is organizing events for this sport.
In the village is a school (grades 1 through 9), a kindergarten, a library, a youth centre, a culture house, a little food store and 2 bus stops. Also we have courts for football and volleyball, an outside gym and an outside dancing place. The local culture house is organizing activities, events and clubs for grown-ups.
Hargla has direct bus connections with Valga (4 times per day), Võru and Tõrva (2 times per day), Tartu (1 time per day), and Pärnu (1 time per day). We are using the Valga train- and bus station to drive to Tallinn, Tartu and Riga (Latvian capital city). Important and biggest cities from Hargla: Tallinn ~270km, Riga ~175km, Tartu ~125km, Võru ~55km and Valga
~30km
Keywords: cooking, community events, arts and crafts, music
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tollisteank
Tõlliste Youth Centre is on the second floor of the local community centre in Tsirguliina, a small but active settlement about 15km from Valga.
The everyday free time is usually passed by playing billiards, foosball or board- and cardgames. Our youngsters really enjoy baking and cooking. Almost daily they bring their own food to cook here as well in addition to the cooking classes. Even outside of the cooking classes, the youngsters are ready to learn new tricks for the kitchen. They also love arts and crafts and ask for ideas to craft or draw daily.
Youngsters spend most of their time in our TV room, where it’s common to hear your typical conversations and sometimes rather loud reactions to video games. They also love listening to music, so it’s rather rare that the youth center is completely silent. If they get bored of video games, they either start doing arts and crafts or move on to playing billiards or boardgames. For the arts and crafts there’s currently a whole room which has all kinds of supplies and tools. Boardgames are usually played in the kitchen/office, where we have a small kitchen corner, a dining table, a desk and some supplies for everyday things.
We also have a band or music room, which currently does not get much use – perhaps something you could breathe a new life into?
Besides planned events, most of the activities come from what the youngsters feel like doing that day. Some weeks they are more active, some they feel like relaxing and taking it slow. Sometimes they look at us for ideas and sometimes they just want us to come along with what they’re doing.
Since we are in the same building as the community centre and very close to the local school, kindergarten and library, then usually everyone teams up for community wide activities, with different organizations taking the lead for different events. Everyone is eager to help, you just have to ask.
Tsirguliina
Tsirguliina is a small borough in Tõlliste Parish, Valga County in Southern Estonia, located about 15 kilometers northeast of the town Valga. With a population of ~ 440; the area is 2.57km². With the most important institutions and facilities like school (grades 1th until to 9th), kindergarten, civic centre, library and post office, it is the unofficial centre of the parish.
Tsirguliina borders the Väike Emajõgi River on its southern side. The name means „birds town” in South Estonian. Tsirguliina has a direct bus connections with Valga (17 times per day), Otepää (9 times per day), and Tartu (1 time per day). Important and biggest cities from Tsirguliina: Tallinn ~229km, Riga ~173km, Tartu ~73km and Valga ~15k
Facebook/homepage: https://www.hargla.edu.ee/gaia-oppesuunaline-klass/ and https://www.facebook.com/Taheva-valla-noored-302165056512667
Lasteaed
Hargla School kindergarten operates in Valga County, Valga Municipality, Hargla Village, in the same building as Hargla School and under joint management.
Hargla School kindergarten is a small and homely kindergarten, where excellent conditions have been created for children to develop comprehensively in a safe environment. Rooms have been recently renovated and adapted for kindergarten. There are 13 to 18 children on the list, depending on the year. Kindergarten team consists of a principal, 1 kindergarten teacher, 2 kindergarten teacher assistants, a music teacher and a movement teacher.
Study activities take place from September to May. At other times educational and playful activities take place. In addition to the playroom, we use school hall and music class for educational activities. We can also often be seen outdoors, on the playground, in the fields, on the roads and in the woods. There, children learn to observe nature, changes in it, flowers, trees and various field works throughout the year. It's a good way to get to know the environment and to take care of it. Also, from October to May, children aged 5-7 study Võru language and culture in the language nest on one day of the week.
We work closely with the school, culture house, library, speech therapist, social workers and Pathfinder.
Gaia class of Hargla School
The idea of creating a Gaia class was started by parents who share the same values. Gaia education is based on the principles of man and nature coexisting. Individual needs of each student are taken into account and the fields of study are nature studies and traditional culture, which support the integration of subjects. Gaia class is supported by a strong and frugal community. It’s important to return as much as possible to nature, naturalness and to one's roots.
Elements of outdoor and discovery learning are used as much as possible and learning is being supported by practical activities and play. Outdoor learning is learning in a genuine environment through direct experience, self-creation and the transmission of experience to others. Study activities are based on an annual rhythm, which is based on national traditions and rhythms of nature. Methodology of cycle learning is used as far as possible, providing the opportunity to cover one topic as a whole. The aim is also to link the content of different subjects and to implement a wide range of practical activities in teaching. People of the community, most of whom are artisans and carriers of heritage culture, are of great help here.
Kool
Hargla School (9 grade basic school) is located in Valga county, Valga municipality, Hargla village. Undre Hargla school are also working local kindergarten and Gaia class. Providing education began in Hargla as early as 1688. Hargla School is located in the area of Koiva-Mustjõgi landscape protection area and Karula Uplands landscape protection area. Relief and nature are varied, thus creating a better opportunity to teach natural subjects and promote environmental protection.
In order to introduce the local peculiarities, Võru language circle takes place in Hargla School and Võru language language nest works in the kindergarten. Local area history is taught as a subject at school. Topic of environmental awareness has been dealt with in depth since 2005 in both at school and in kindergarten. Since 2016 focus has also been on student entrepreneurship and for the fourth year in a row, 7th to 9th class students take part in a mini-company program, in the framework of which they create their own company, product/service and participate in various fairs and mini- company competitions during the academic year. Mini-companies of Hargla School have reached the final competition of Estonian mini-companies every year (the best places are 2nd and 3rd) and have won all the podium places in the mini-company competition of Valga County.
There is close co-operation in the field of hobbies with local non-profit associations and with the Taheva Parish Open Youth Center, a structural unit of the Hargla Rural Culture House, which coordinates the rural municipality's youth work. Hobby circles aimed at students operate at both the open youth center and the school.
Hargla
Hargla is a village located in South-Estonia near the Latvian border. This village is the biggest village in Taheva area. Starting in 2018 Taheva area and Hargla village is now part of Valga parish. The parish centre is Valga city, which is ~30km away from Hargla.
Hargla is famous for its very beautiful nature, as also Karula national park is nearby – keywords are pure, eco and wild. Around the area are a lot of hiking tracks, free camping places in nature, lakes and forest. Near Hargla is also a viewing point, where you can get a great impression of the area. One popular activity is canoeing in Mustjõgi and Koiva river – especially in the „5th“ season of Estonia, which means that the water of the river floods the nearby land. But also volleyball is common and popular in this area, as the youth centre is organizing events for this sport.
In the village is a school (grades 1 through 9), a kindergarten, a library, a youth centre, a culture house, a little food store and 2 bus stops. Also we have courts for football and volleyball, an outside gym and an outside dancing place. The local culture house is organizing activities, events and clubs for grown-ups.
Hargla has direct bus connections with Valga (4 times per day), Võru and Tõrva (2 times per day), Tartu (1 time per day), and Pärnu (1 time per day). We are using the Valga train- and bus station to drive to Tallinn, Tartu and Riga (Latvian capital city). Important and biggest cities from Hargla: Tallinn ~270km, Riga ~175km, Tartu ~125km, Võru ~55km and Valga
~30km
Ritsu (Linna küla) is located in Tõrva municipality, the city is 6 km away, the bus connection is very good and an illuminated light traffic road leads to the city. Nearby are Taagepera and Holdre castle, two spas, health trails and beautiful lakes where you can go swimming.
Ritsu Youth Room is part of the village center. The library and the Ritsu village society operate in the same premises. The house also has a dining room, school, kindergarten, gym, shooting range and shop. It is possible to go to the sauna. Our youth room provides for the youngsters a space where to spend time playing billiards, table tennis, air hockey, xbox games (their favourite is Just Dance) or simply chill with board games.
There is one person working in the house. The gym offers volleyball, football and park training. In addition, we organize various events for young people - overnight stays in the youth center, board game evenings, etc.
